Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Report — 21 MAY 2009 — 74 Fish






Fished a half-day morning trip this morning on Stillhouse with Fernando G. and his friend Nihls, of Costa Rica. Fernando is an Austin banker and a lay minister; Nihls is a vocational pastor visiting from Costa Rica with Fernando’s congregation. These two very decent Christian men were a pleasure to have on board.

NIHLS WITH 1 OF SEVERAL NICE BLACK TAKEN ON TOPWATER TODAY ON THE CORK RIG

FERNANDO WITH A DOWNRIGGERED WHITE BASS TAKEN ON THE PET SPOON


Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp: 60F at trip’s start. 79F at trip’s end.

Water Surface Temp: ~75.5F

Wind: Winds were light and variable at sunrise through 10am; then took on a definitive SE track at around 7-8 mph from 10:30 on.

Skies: Bright, clear, and dry during trip time, with skies going fair by mid-afternoon.



We fished 5 areas today and found fish at 4 of them.

We began our trip pre-sunrise set up over shallow water at Area 443 looking for a topwater bite on the calm conditions. We found small, scattered schools of white bass on top with small largemouth lurking beneath. All were feeding on young of the year shad. Due to the bright conditions, what action did exist didn’t last very long. We spent less than an hour here and managed 4 white bass, 3 largemouth, and missed 3 more hooked and lost at boatside.

While it was still not fully bright yet with the sun still at a low angle, we headed to Area 432. Again, we saw very scattered activity, and the action looked more like largemouth popping larger shad than it did white bass. We stopped just briefly to survey the situation. I got one small largemouth very quickly on a bladebait, but I didn’t see enough here to interest me, so we moved on.

We headed to the submerged point between Areas 440 and 441 and after seeing fish on a single downrigger pass here, decided to give downrigging a try. We came up with 3 nice white bass, all going 13-15 inches. As we passed over the high spine of this feature, fish would appear on or near bottom each time. We therefore gave vertical jigging a try, but these fish really just wanted a horizontal presentation and nothing else. We left these fish alone and went to look for more action.

We headed to between Areas 209 and 197 and found open water white bass schools lightly sipping shad fry on the surface. These fish were nearly untouchable due to the bright, clear sky and the calm surface. We attempted Cork Rigs, but came up emptyhanded despite a number of well-placed casts that would have produced if the fish were turned on to this.

Around 10am, we ended up our trip in the area bounded by Area 205 to the W., Area 206 to the N., and Area 444 to the E. The 20′ contour line was our north boundary. As I idled into this area with sonar on, a definite trend developed. Abundant gamefish arches showed on sonar at the 22-24 foot mark throughout this area. Whether that 22-24 foot mark intersected with bottom or if it was suspended over 30-40 feet didn’t matter … the fish were sandwiched in that band. This posture was ripe for a downrigging approach. We geared up with Pet Spoons (knowing that the forage was probably very small) and went to work. Over the next 2 1/2 hours we boated exactly 63 fish. The vast majority of these were keeper white bass, with some going to 13.75 to 14.50 inches. We had a good number of barely keeper and short largemouth mixed in. A number of times we had (largemouth, especially) strike a near-surface lure as we were preparing to lower the downrigger ball. After showing my guests how to rig the downriggers themselves, Fernando commented several times that it took longer to rig and lower the system than to get bit once the rig was at depth. Twice, both at times where higher wind speeds existed for several minutes in a row, we sited very aggressive topwater feeding by largemouth bass forcing ~3 inch threadfin shad to the surface. We played with these a bit throwing Cork Rigs so both fellows could enjoy the sight of a largemouth tracking and smashing a surface bait, but only landed 4 fish this way in the short window of time these fish were accessible. One time we did give vertical jigging a try, but the fish were reluctant towards a vertical presentation, and so we returned to downrigging. With a ministry event planned for the evening and a nap planned for the afternoon, the men had to call it quits around 12:30. So, we left these fish biting and called it a day.


TALLY = 74 FISH, all caught and released


Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing